Govt mandates use of Aadhaar for availing LPG subsidy
It is likely that Aadhaar use will soon be mandated in other government schemes such as the public distribution system and the MGNREGA
New Delhi: With the Aadhaar Act getting notified on 12 September, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas has mandated the use of the Aadhaar or unique identification number for availing subsidy under the direct benefit transfer of LPG (DBTL) or Pahal scheme.
It is estimated that around 20% of the beneficiaries of this scheme are yet to link their Aadhaar numbers to their bank accounts and they will have till 30 November to do so. The initial deadline was 30 September, although this was being done at the level of the oil marketing companies and did not have legislative backing.
The notification of the Aadhaar Act on 12 September has given the number legislative backing and it is likely that its use will soon be mandated in other government schemes such as the public distribution system (PDS), the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), pension schemes such as National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
Also Read: Direct benefit transfers will become the norm: Arun Jaitley
“Those who do not have Aadhaar should not be left uncovered, they should be enrolled for Aadhaar and the responsibility to do so have been given to the oil marketing companies (OMCs) as the subsidies are being given through them," said Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chief executive A.B. Pandey in an interview .
“LPG subsidy is issued under the Consolidated Fund of India therefore under section 7 of the Aadhaar Act , the government has the power to require unique identification number for issuing the subsidy," Pandey said.
Section 7 of the law says Aadhaar numbers are mandatory for the receipt of certain subsidies, benefits and services for which the expenditure is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India.
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